New applications of the jellium model for the study of atomic clusters

Application of the jellium model for investigation of the electronic structure and photoionization of metal clusters and fullerenes is discussed. The valence electrons are considered either within the Hartree-Fock and the local density approximations. The random phase approximation is utilized to account for the many-electron correlations in the response of a system to an external field. It is shown that the photodetachment cross section and photoelectron angular distribution in metal cluster anions are described reasonably well within the jellium model. Its application to fullerenes requires the use of corrections for a better description of the ground state electron density.